


Not Here Right Now

by naasad



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Ghosts, Hurt No Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 03:45:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18217754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naasad/pseuds/naasad
Summary: Caboose can see ghosts.





	Not Here Right Now

Caboose was born with too-big eyes. His oldest sister joked that he could probably see the whole world.

Two months later, she died.

He never noticed.

He still laughed when she played with his hair, still cried when she left the room, and still blew sleepy bubbles when she kissed his forehead goodnight.

And so, it was for the rest of his life.

The old lady next door was killed by her husband when he was two and he screamed for weeks.

His father died when he was five, and his mother never knew where he learned to shave.

He talked out loud all the time, carrying on one side of a conversation with many, many people, so eager to talk and be heard after hundreds of years alone.

“I am a good listener,” he said when his teachers complained about his distractibility and his wandering mind.

They scoffed and gave him four letters.

He liked the four letters. A. D. H. D. They felt good in his mouth when he said them out loud.

Mandy was the one to keep him from telling other people about the ghosts.

Mandy was like him. When she was alive, when the colony on the moon was new, she could talk to ghosts, too. Now that she was dead, sometimes she could talk to living people. Like when Caboose broke his leg climbing over the fence and his mother had the sudden urge to take a walk, he knew that was Mandy.

But he didn’t tell his mother that.

The ghosts followed him wherever he went.

In Blood Gulch, Church took longer to appear than most, but he still came, and he still stayed.

For a little while anyway.

In Rats’ Nest, his teammates screamed at him every time they got shot. He forgot sometimes that bullets didn’t just go through everybody.

In Valhalla, Blues and Reds fought over his shoulder constantly, old rivalries never defeated by death. His ghosts closed ranks around him whenever one got too close.

Agent Washington frowned at him whenever he flinched away from one of them.

Agent Washington had ghosts following him, too.

The big one looked like the bad guy.

The purple one screamed when he shot the mean lady.

When they got back to Valhalla, the Blues and Reds were still there. Of course, they were, ghosts can’t die.

He was glad, to an extent. He was the only Blue left alive, but he wasn’t alone.

Church wasn't there, though.

He must be on a mission.

Caboose would take good care of Epsilon until he came back. He would make him a body, like Church had. They said he was kind of like Church, didn’t they? He didn’t know any other ghosts who could possess bodies, so maybe that was just a Church thing.

In the desert, he found out Epsilon was Church.

In the mountains, Church went on another mission.

Church was going on a lot of missions.

“He’s not like us,” Mandy said sadly.

Caboose laughed. “Silly Mandy. He’s a ghost. He said so! That means he will come back.”

Church did not come back.

Caboose got to know Agent Washington’s ghosts. The purple one was the mean lady’s brother. He didn’t know where she was. Caboose promised to tell if he saw her.

Church still did not come back.

Janey from the moon did.

And then a new, meaner lady came to Valhalla. There was a gold ghost with her.

“Agent York!” Caboose called, waving. “Everybody misses you!”

The meaner lady punched him in the face, which was very rude. He wasn’t even talking to her.

They went to a new place with the Reds and they found Church, and Church came back.

Caboose beamed. He knew he would. His closest friends always came back.

The next mission they all went on together, but Church didn’t talk to him anymore. He thought they forgot to bring him when he couldn’t see him, but it turned out he was in Tucker’s body the whole time.

Caboose thought that would be a very gross place to be. Tucker was mean to him, and his mom always said mean people have icky hearts, and the heart is inside the body.

Mandy shook her head.

Janey looked confused.

Chorus was filled with dead people. Some stayed far away, not trusting new people. Some wept loudly during the night, keeping him awake until the sun came up. Some begged and pleaded for him to help, and all of them… all of them were fighting.

Caboose wanted to help, he wanted to help, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t.

Church wasn't there.

Agent Washington was busy.

The ghosts left to keep the others away.

Caboose had never been alone before.

Then he made a new friend, then he lost almost everyone.

They weren’t dead, he told himself. If they were, they would be here with him.

But Church had left, so maybe they wouldn’t come.

“They’re alive,” Mandy said. “But there’s something fishy going on. I think these people are all the same.”

“Like Red and Blue?” Caboose asked.

He told Simmons. Simmons was nice.

“We know, Caboose,” Simmons said.

“Oh. Then why are they still fighting?”

“That’s why it’s called a civil war.”

“Oh.”

Mandy shook her head. But even though Mandy knew a lot, Simmons knew everything.

They found their friends, and Church came back, too. He was with the mean lady, but that was okay, she was being less mean. She even saved him.

Then they stopped the war and everything was perfect.

And then Church was gone again.

They moved to a new place again. It was called Iris and it was awesome, but Church was still not there.

“He’ll come back,” Caboose said.

He did come back. Dylan brought his voice from Santa, and it was the best Christmas present ever.

But then he wasn’t there. He wasn’t there at all.

“Don’t you know what dead means?” people shouted.

“I know what dead means,” Caboose said. “I know what dead means.”

Dead means people come back.

Dead means people stay forever.

Dead means hugs that feel more like static electricity than skin.

The only thing dead doesn’t mean is gone.

…

…

“Gone?”

What does ‘gone’ mean?


End file.
